How many users actually benefit from $99 unlimited?

For the cost of one of those $99 unlimited plans (which will be about
$115 after taxes and fees), you could buy about 2150 minutes on a
prepaid network (at about 5.3¢ per minute). That's about 35 hours a
month. Other than certain business people, i.e. realtors, field service,
etc., how many users actually use over 2000 minutes per month?

PagePlus charges as low as 5.3¢/minute for voice, and as low as 3.5¢ per
text message (when you buy the $80 "1400 minute" card at a discounted
price of $74). They also offer unlimited voice minutes for $2.49 a day,
or $75 for a 30 day month.

It seems that too many consumers look at the "unlimited" part, without
understanding that $99 is a) not really $99, and b) not such a great
deal compared to non-unlimited plans, and c) a lot more than they have
to pay for unlimited voice.

---

› See More: How many users actually benefit from $99 unlimited?

Great post. You are 1000% correct. I don't even need the 1000 minutes I get
from T-mobile, but I'm only paying $39.99 & that includes free nights &
weekends.


"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> For the cost of one of those $99 unlimited plans (which will be about $115
> after taxes and fees), you could buy about 2150 minutes on a prepaid
> network (at about 5.3¢ per minute). That's about 35 hours a month. Other
> than certain business people, i.e. realtors, field service, etc., how many
> users actually use over 2000 minutes per month?
>
> PagePlus charges as low as 5.3¢/minute for voice, and as low as 3.5¢ per
> text message (when you buy the $80 "1400 minute" card at a discounted
> price of $74). They also offer unlimited voice minutes for $2.49 a day, or
> $75 for a 30 day month.
>
> It seems that too many consumers look at the "unlimited" part, without
> understanding that $99 is a) not really $99, and b) not such a great deal
> compared to non-unlimited plans, and c) a lot more than they have to pay
> for unlimited voice.

Ben Skversky wrote:
> Great post. You are 1000% correct. I don't even need the 1000 minutes I get
> from T-mobile, but I'm only paying $39.99 & that includes free nights &
> weekends.

Yes, T-Mobile is a great deal for a lot of peak minutes. Unfortunately
they have no coverage yet where I live, and poor coverage where I
usually travel to.

I pay $30 for 300 minutes and unlimited N&W on Verizon, and I just don't
get into long gab fests during peak times.

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:02:25 -0500, "Ben Skversky"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Great post. You are 1000% correct. I don't even need the 1000 minutes I get
>from T-mobile, but I'm only paying $39.99 & that includes free nights &
>weekends.
>
>
>"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> For the cost of one of those $99 unlimited plans (which will be about $115
>> after taxes and fees), you could buy about 2150 minutes on a prepaid
>> network (at about 5.3¢ per minute). That's about 35 hours a month. Other
>> than certain business people, i.e. realtors, field service, etc., how many
>> users actually use over 2000 minutes per month?
>>
>> PagePlus charges as low as 5.3¢/minute for voice, and as low as 3.5¢ per
>> text message (when you buy the $80 "1400 minute" card at a discounted
>> price of $74). They also offer unlimited voice minutes for $2.49 a day, or
>> $75 for a 30 day month.
>>
>> It seems that too many consumers look at the "unlimited" part, without
>> understanding that $99 is a) not really $99, and b) not such a great deal
>> compared to non-unlimited plans, and c) a lot more than they have to pay
>> for unlimited voice.
>

ATTs previous plans offered 2000 minutes for $99.99
4000 for $149.99 and
6000 for $199.99

Many folks prefer the greater convienence of post-paid plans,
so anyone with any of those three previous plans would be a candidate
for a $99.99 unlimited plan, as would anyopne one the 1350 minutes
$79.99 plan that ever went over and paid 35 cents a minute for that
overage.

Ron wrote:

> ATTs previous plans offered 2000 minutes for $99.99
> 4000 for $149.99 and
> 6000 for $199.99
>
> Many folks prefer the greater convienence of post-paid plans,
> so anyone with any of those three previous plans would be a candidate
> for a $99.99 unlimited plan, as would anyopne one the 1350 minutes
> $79.99 plan that ever went over and paid 35 cents a minute for that
> overage.

I suppose, but if I were those people I'd definitely choose the PagePlus
unlimited at about $75 per month, plus it's not "plus taxes, fees, etc."

Actually you can get it for about $2.30/day or about $69/month, if you
buy the refill cards at a discount. I.e. the $80 card can be purchased
for $73.72, a discount of 7.85%.

The biggest benefit is that it's on Verizon, which has the best coverage
of any U.S. network.

Ron wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:02:25 -0500, "Ben Skversky"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>Great post. You are 1000% correct. I don't even need the 1000 minutes I get
>
>>from T-mobile, but I'm only paying $39.99 & that includes free nights &
>
>>weekends.
>>
>>
>>"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:[email protected]...
>>
>>>For the cost of one of those $99 unlimited plans (which will be about $115
>>>after taxes and fees), you could buy about 2150 minutes on a prepaid
>>>network (at about 5.3¢ per minute). That's about 35 hours a month. Other
>>>than certain business people, i.e. realtors, field service, etc., how many
>>>users actually use over 2000 minutes per month?
>>>
>>>PagePlus charges as low as 5.3¢/minute for voice, and as low as 3.5¢ per
>>>text message (when you buy the $80 "1400 minute" card at a discounted
>>>price of $74). They also offer unlimited voice minutes for $2.49 a day, or
>>>$75 for a 30 day month.
>>>
>>>It seems that too many consumers look at the "unlimited" part, without
>>>understanding that $99 is a) not really $99, and b) not such a great deal
>>>compared to non-unlimited plans, and c) a lot more than they have to pay
>>>for unlimited voice.
>>
>
> ATTs previous plans offered 2000 minutes for $99.99
> 4000 for $149.99 and
> 6000 for $199.99
>
> Many folks prefer the greater convienence of post-paid plans,
> so anyone with any of those three previous plans would be a candidate
> for a $99.99 unlimited plan, as would anyopne one the 1350 minutes
> $79.99 plan that ever went over and paid 35 cents a minute for that
> overage.

35 cents a minute? Gawd! If my mother or my stepmother had lived to
see cell phones, they would have talked sixteen hours per day and the
family would have been bankrupt!

Richard B. Gilbert wrote:

> 35 cents a minute? Gawd! If my mother or my stepmother had lived to
> see cell phones, they would have talked sixteen hours per day and the
> family would have been bankrupt!

35¢ a minute is actually pretty low for overage charges.

That's actually one of the big advantages of prepaid, you don't pay
outrageous overages, you just pay the normal per minute rate. Prepaid is
available on Verizon's network for as little as 5.3¢ per minute.

Sprint had a deal for a while that got rid of the huge overage charges,
called "Fair and Flexible."

It's a double-edged sword for the carriers. If they made the overages
reasonable then subscribers would be less careful about going over, and
use more than their plan minutes without much concern. However that
would cause some subscribers to move to lower tiers, which would cost
the carrier money.

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:17:24 -0800, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>I suppose, but if I were those people I'd definitely choose the PagePlus
>unlimited at about $75 per month, plus it's not "plus taxes, fees, etc."

Deity help us -- you're morphing into a shill for PagePlus!

>Actually you can get it for about $2.30/day or about $69/month, if you
>buy the refill cards at a discount. I.e. the $80 card can be purchased
>for $73.72, a discount of 7.85%.
>
>The biggest benefit is that it's on Verizon, which has the best coverage
>of any U.S. network.

But still a Verizon shill I see.

--
Best regards,
John Navas <http:/navasgroup.com>

"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea - massive,
difficult to redirect, awe inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." --Gene Spafford

In my job, I go as far west on the Pa. turnpike to Harrisburg, Pa., on the
NJ turnpike I go as far north to Fort Lee, NJ. I have no problems with
T-mobile.



"SMS" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Ben Skversky wrote:
>> Great post. You are 1000% correct. I don't even need the 1000 minutes I
>> get from T-mobile, but I'm only paying $39.99 & that includes free nights
>> & weekends.
>
> Yes, T-Mobile is a great deal for a lot of peak minutes. Unfortunately
> they have no coverage yet where I live, and poor coverage where I usually
> travel to.
>
> I pay $30 for 300 minutes and unlimited N&W on Verizon, and I just don't
> get into long gab fests during peak times.

Ben Skversky wrote:
> In my job, I go as far west on the Pa. turnpike to Harrisburg, Pa., on the
> NJ turnpike I go as far north to Fort Lee, NJ. I have no problems with
> T-mobile.

Yes, T-Mobile seems to work very well in the eastern U.S.. My mother
switched to T-Mobile prepaid in Florida after AT&T/Cingular converted
her from TDMA/AMPS to GSM and increased the monthly rate by 40%. She
started a movement among her senior friends when they found out how
little she was paying. However now she uses OneSuite for long distance
at 2.5¢/minute, where before she could use free N&W on AT&T.

In the western U.S., T-Mobile took over the horrid Cingular/Pac Bell
1900 MHz GSM network, which has poor coverage. They've been trying to
improve things, but have run into a lot of opposition to suburban cell
sites. Still, it's slowly improving. Sometime in 2008 I should get
coverage at my house, but there are still a lot of areas of the Bay Area
with coverage holes, much more than with Verizon or AT&T.

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:56:57 -0800, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>In the western U.S., T-Mobile took over the horrid Cingular/Pac Bell
>1900 MHz GSM network, which has poor coverage. They've been trying to
>improve things, but have run into a lot of opposition to suburban cell
>sites. Still, it's slowly improving. Sometime in 2008 I should get
>coverage at my house, but there are still a lot of areas of the Bay Area
>with coverage holes, much more than with Verizon or AT&T.

Nonsense. The old Cingular now T-Mobile actually has good coverage.
Will you stop the trolling when you finally get coverage in your house?
Or must your wife get coverage at work too?

--
Best regards,
John Navas <http:/navasgroup.com>

"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea - massive,
difficult to redirect, awe inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind
boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it." --Gene Spafford

On Feb 21, 11:53*am, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
> For the cost of one of those $99 unlimited plans (which will be about
> $115 after taxes and fees), you could buy about 2150 minutes on a
> prepaid network (at about 5.3¢ per minute). That's about 35 hours a
> month. Other than certain business people, i.e. realtors, field service,
> etc., how many users actually use over 2000 minutes per month?
>
> PagePlus charges as low as 5.3¢/minute for voice, and as low as 3.5¢ per
> text message (when you buy the $80 "1400 minute" card at a discounted
> price of $74). They also offer unlimited voice minutes for $2.49 a day,
> or $75 for a 30 day month.
>
> It seems that too many consumers look at the "unlimited" part, without
> understanding that $99 is a) not really $99, and b) not such a great
> deal compared to non-unlimited plans, and c) a lot more than they have
> to pay for unlimited voice.

I think that with a low enough price point that unlimited becomes
useful for those who want to drop a landline and go all cellular all
the time.

Unfortuantely I think that getting Magic Jack is a bigger bang for
the buck in dropping a old fashioned landline then trying to cut the
cord using a cell phone plan. You can't beat unlimited calling in the
US and Canada 24 X 7 for only $20 a year. Plus you get all those
advanced phone services thrown in for free also .

Magic Jack is one kick ass phone company when it comes to net cost!
Now if AT&T could drop the cell bill to only $20 a year that would be
something.

SMS <[email protected]> wrote:

>For the cost of one of those $99 unlimited plans (which will be about
>$115 after taxes and fees), you could buy about 2150 minutes on a
>prepaid network (at about 5.3¢ per minute). That's about 35 hours a
>month. Other than certain business people, i.e. realtors, field service,
>etc., how many users actually use over 2000 minutes per month?

But don't these unlimited plans include Internet use on
smart phones?

If yes.. THAT would be where I'd make my savings with
such a plan over say a prepaid plan. No?

At 21 Feb 2008 13:06:23 -0800 4phun wrote:
>
> I think that with a low enough price point that unlimited becomes
> useful for those who want to drop a landline and go all cellular all
> the time.
>
> Unfortuantely I think that getting Magic Jack is a bigger bang for
> the buck in dropping a old fashioned landline then trying to cut the
> cord using a cell phone plan. You can't beat unlimited calling in the
> US and Canada 24 X 7 for only $20 a year. Plus you get all those
> advanced phone services thrown in for free also .


Magic Jack is an interesting option, but it's probably doomed.

The "$20/year" is a money losing proposition for them- they don't own their
phone numbers, so thy have "rent" them from a provider like Level 3 for
maybe $3 or even more depending on the amount of incoming calls. Then they
have to pay termination fees of $0.01-0.05/minute (depending on where you
call.)

Magic Jack is hoping to make it up on sales of banner advertising you'll
see on the softphone display, which may or may not cover their costs.

> Magic Jack is one kick ass phone company when it comes to net cost!

Sure. Anytime you give a product away, consumers will be happy! Magic
Jack will be a heck of a bargain...

....until the VC money runs out! ;-)


> Now if AT&T could drop the cell bill to only $20 a year that would be
> something.

Maybe after they start running 30-second commercials on your iPhone display
before and after each call they will!

4phun wrote:

> I think that with a low enough price point that unlimited becomes
> useful for those who want to drop a landline and go all cellular all
> the time.

Yeah, unless: a) you want to have DSL, in which case you may as well get
a landline anyway since the price difference between naked DSL and DSL
plus a landline is minimal, and b) you have kids or seniors that need
the 911 service of a landline.

Also, in natural disasters, often the wireless networks are overloaded
or go down, but landlines still work. During the bad hurricane season a
few years ago, we also saw that a lot of wireless sites had no back-up
generator, only batteries, so they went down pretty quickly. Cingular
had 25% of their sites with generators (according to their own press
release), while Verizon had 80% with back up power (Verizon claims to
have a generator at every site where they are allowed to have one).
Cingular's goal is to have enough sites up to provide complete coverage,
but to sacrifice capacity, "We will sacrifice the capacity piece to try
to attain blanket coverage as much as possible."

"http://telephonyonline.com/mag/telecom_signal_end_storm/"
"http://news.vzw.com/news/2006/03/pr2006-04-04a.html"

> Magic Jack is one kick ass phone company when it comes to net cost!
> Now if AT&T could drop the cell bill to only $20 a year that would be
> something.

How long do you think Magic Jack is going to survive at $20/year? It's
great while it lasts though. They'll probably be going the way of
SunRocket before long.